Abstract: A novel method of microwave assisted solid phase headspace gas chromatography (MASP-HSGC) was developed through online coupling of solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME) and headspace-gas chromatography via a six-way valve. The method can quickly and directly analyze the volatile compounds from solid samples with its ability of simultaneous extraction, separation and analysis without any pretreatment. The method was applied to analyze the volatile compounds of solid Curcuma. Some experimental parameters such as the chromatographic conditions, microwave power and irradiation time were studied. Curcumol was used as the standard to evaluate the recovery, the limit of detection and the contents of compounds in a Curcuma sample. The essential oils were prepared by hydrodistillation extraction (HD) and SFME separately, and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to compare the results with those from the developed method. It showed that the numbers of compounds obtained by the three methods of HD-GC, SFME-GC and MASP-HSGC were 35, 33, 40 respectively. The contents of curcumol using the three methods were (0.294±0.015), (0.331±0.023), (0.297±0.009) mg/g respectively. The method was approved to be suitable for the rapid analysis of volatile components in Curcuma.

Key words: Chinese medical material, Curcuma, headspace-gas chromatography (HS-GC), solid phase, volatile compounds, solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME)